Fancasting the characters – meet Lowrie, Shen, Maya and Riz

Lowrie is a suit-wearing, treasure-hunting tomboy, with a workshop full of tools in place of a walk-in wardrobe. She constantly has a chisel and screwdriver on hand. She’s blonde, and wears her hair in a french plait. She’s most often found wearing Shen’s mustard yellow jumpers.

Shen Zhang – Justin H. Min

Shen is a Chinese alien enthusiast, with a stack of books which he always reads acknowledgements first. He’s a night owl, a history buff, has a fear of mice (but not rats) and is a fair hand at coding. He can’t sing for toffee.

See also: commissioned drawing of Lowrie and Shen with their robot pal Mitch (who, for obvious reasons, I can’t actually fancast). Art by stoffberg;

Maya Waverley

Maya is the owner of an old social media account that Lowrie and Shen discover on the archives of the old internet. Lowrie starts reading about Maya’s life, drawn in by her account of the days after the infertility started – and her funny sense of humour, and the fact that she’s bisexual like Lowrie.

I can’t resist casting her as Tessa Thompson, just because I could totally see her playing a self-confident, chatty blogger like Maya.

Riz Stevens – Oscar Isaac

Maya’s cheeky internet buddy is a curly haired Oscar Isaac in my head. He’s fun and laidback and cool, and he writes a killer tweet.